How The Internet Helps And Hinders My Photography

The internet is a great wonder of the modern world that’s transformed our lives.

Without it, I wouldn’t know 10% of what I do know about photography, or have owned and used maybe even 5% of the cameras and lenses.

But on the flipside, I’ve lost track of how much time, money and energy I’ve wasted online when I could have been out in the field making photographs.

Here’s a closer look at how the internet has specifically helped and hindered, enabled and crippled my photography in the last five or six years.

Photography knowledge

I’ve learn a vast amount from reading articles online, not just about the mechanics and art of photography, but its history, and the evolution of various brands and camera types, and more.

But when I think about the core elements of photography – how to use a camera, basic composition, the effect varying ISO, aperture and shutter speed have, and so on, I think first about camera manuals.

I remember going through a series of fairly basic Canon models (mostly SureShots) and each one have a surprisingly descriptive and informative manual.

These were 30+ year old manuals given away with affordable mainstream consumer cameras. And the core elements haven’t really changed since then. I didn’t need the internet, I could have just read one manual then gone out and practiced, practiced, practiced.

The internet gives us the largest shopping centre ever known, all in one place – the screen in front of us.

Aside from camera stores, sites that offer used kit like Gumtree, Amazon and of course eBay, are absolutely swimming with photography equipment, all too easy to make our own with a couple of clicks.

On the upside this has meant I’ve bought dozens of cameras and lenses that have brought me great pleasure and expanded my photography experience.

On the downside, I’ve spent hundreds more than I’ve needed to buying cameras and lenses that haven’t really offered me anything different.

Money I could have invested in film and processing, travelling, buying books or visiting exhibitions, all which arguably would have furthered my photography far more.

Not to mention the choice overload we’re faced with when trying to choose just one camera and lens to take out.

I’ve lost track of the minutes and hours I’ve been deadlocked in indecision and seen my opportunity to photograph disappear through changing weather or simply time passing whilst I struggled to choose.

Film choice

Again the online stores give us a far wider choice of film – fresh and expired – than we would have just down our local camera shop, chemist or supermarket.

My favourite film, Fuji Superia 100, I’ve bought in batches mostly from Eastern Europe, and sometimes from ex-film photographers in the UK selling off their stash.

There’s nowhere local that stocks it, as it’s not been made for years.

Just three cameras, three lenses and three films gives 27 different combinations. Four of each gives 64. I don’t want to calculate any higher, or contemplate how the pinnacle of my consumption resulted in owning over 50 cameras at once.

The film I’ve shot most with turns out to be good old AgfaPhoto Vista Plus 200, rebranded Fuji C200, widely available for some years from Poundland for, naturally, £1 a roll.

Yes Superia 100 is amazing and remains my favourite, but Vista Plus 200 is super versatile and has given me colour, black and white, DIY redscale, and film soup experimental images I’ve been delighted with.

Just one film from just one store. Just £1 a roll.

There’s also the argument that by using just one film (camera, lens) we master our equipment far more quickly, know exactly how it will behave in any given lighting, and increase the probability of making consistently pleasing shots.

Social

Mostly through Flickr, then this blog, plus a little through eBay, Instagram, PentaxForums, and other blogs, I’ve met some great photographers that I enjoy speaking with online.

I’ve also learned a great deal from them, about photography generally, from their images, and about certain brands, models and types of cameras. This is all brilliant.

But, again I wouldn’t want to count up the time I’ve spent say adding an in depth description about the camera, lens and film I’ve used (and why )to an image in Flickr, or adding thirteen hashtags to an Instagram post, to then have three people view it.

For example, I quite like the photograph above, but it has officially zero views, zero favourites and zero comments on Flickr! There comes a point where you have to question the investment.

That said, what you can never really measure is the effect of creating a cumulative body of work and conversations over time.

If I was brand new to Flickr, had no other online presence, and uploaded my first image today, I’d might get a handful of views, if that, and very likely no comments. Or maybe zero again.

But because I’ve been on Flickr since 2009, and been uploading fairly consistently, my images overall have gathered a quite impressive (to me!) 1.1M views, and I now get around 1500 views a day across all my Flickr photos.

This total amount is only because of the volume of work I’ve uploaded in the last eight years, so we have to acknowledge that each photo we share (and each comment we make on other people’s photographs and blogs and social media) goes towards this cumulative weight over time that increases our reach and presence.

As you can see, I’m pretty torn about the internet.

I concede that overall it’s been fantastic for my photography – learning about the craft, its history, the evolution of brands, having access to a vast array of cameras, lenses and film, meeting and being inspired by other photographers, and finding a small audience for my photographs and writing about photography.

But I do despair at the time, money and energy I’ve spent online on activities and equipment that have slowed me down (and sometimes utterly paralysed me), and prevented me simply getting out and taking more pictures and improving as a photographer.

We can only try to learn from our past experiences of course, we can’t go back.

I’m pleased to report that the urge to buy is greatly diminished now I’ve found my favourite core kit (film and digital), and I do spend very little time browsing new (to me) stuff.

I’ve very recently purged my ridiculous film stock (200+ rolls in the freezer, which at the last six months’ shooting rate of about half a dozen film photographs a month, would far outlast me, my children and their children), so I now just have a small selection.

And 90% of it is my cherished Superia 100.

I limit my online social time mostly to occasions where I couldn’t really being doing much else photographically, like right now. As I type it’s pitch black outside and the kids are tucked up in bed, so aside from a few test shots of the Barbies and Stretch Armstrong and our cat lying about, there’s not much photographic opportunity.

A good time to write and connect.

Talking of writing and connecting, what about you? How do you feel the internet has helped and hindered your photography? Please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading. Please share this post with others you feel will enjoy it too.

I agree it’s always good to be able to share our work to an interested audience, plus exchange ideas and techniques we’ve tried that others might not have.

As I’ve said before, my blog is much younger than yours, and whilst I’ve had one blog or other online since about 2005, Down The Road was a big influence in me starting 35hunter, my first photography blog.

Well I’m glad you’re here on the net anyway! As you said at the end most of the time I spend here is while it’s dark outside, especially in winter, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. And without sharing my pics online they wouldn’t even be seen by one other person. So 15 views is more than most of my dad’s lovely pictures in his albums will ever get.

Plus, while people in camera shops can be helpful sometimes, mostly in my experience they’re either trying to get you to buy something expensive, rude, elitist know-it-alls, or both! So the lovely photography community online is fantastic for learning more and just sharing ideas, like we do here on your blog.

Yes, how many amateur photographs of generations gone took hundreds, thousands of photographers that no-one else every saw?

I think I’ve only asked for advice in a camera shop about once. Trouble is in the one nearest me, they have different sections for each brand, and specialist staff at each. So you couldn’t go in and say “what’s the best mirrorless to go for, Sony, Fuji or Olympus?” and get an objective and useful answer, they’d all just promote their own brand as they want to sell more.

What I’ve found interesting in the platforms I use online is the crossover, and how I’ve met the same people on two or three different sites. It starts to feel like a town with a bunch of cafes, and you might meet the same person in a couple of different cafes because you both like hanging out there.

Extending the analogy, this is a major reason why I wanted to start a photography blog, to have a cafe of my own that people would want to come to and talk about photography, as still so many photo blogs out there are just full of dry, dull, technical data and little about the emotion and feeling behind how and why we photograph.

I have reduced my internet activities mostly to following a handful of blogs away from WordPress and of course all those nice blogs such as yours in here.

I appreciate the contacts. Comments and even the likes I get on WP.

On the other hand I cancelled my Flickr account and mostly stopped posting on Instagram. Too much time lost in there.

I desperately try to limit my time on Facebook these days. My WP posts appear on FB (yes this helps getting the numbers of visits I like) and I mostly just deal with the comments on them. I avoid getting sucked into the bottomless pit of timelines and feeds.

“Likes” is a topic I plan to write about someday here. I just don’t get it. If you like something someone’s written, then tell them, give them specific feedback about what you like, and add some value to their post for others. Just “Liking” is so lazy! Drives me crazy! Oh that wasn’t meant to rhyme!

Flickr I use also as backup / archive for my photos, and it’s very handy to have with the automatic resized versions of each photo it creates. Makes that side of blogging very easy. I also find it convenient to find my photos as I always use keywords/tags.

If I write a post about say the Minolta Dynax 7000i, I can easily go to Flickr, type it in and all my photos come up. Finding them on my hard drive would take considerably longer, and be far less visual and convenient. Plus I’d have to sift through the dross – with Flickr I know I only upload what I feel are my best photographs anyway.

Instagram I tried, gave it up for a few months (which turned into a year) then very recently started trying again. I get it a bit more this time around, especially for iPhone photos. I don’t think it’s something to take too seriously or expect too much from.

Facebook I joined maybe nine years ago, then left about 18 months after that. Haven’t touched it since!

Yes I also have mine backed up to an external hard drive, I just like the extra back up of Flickr. And that it’s just the best stuff. Even if I got zero views I’d probably still use it as an archiving and organisational tool for my photographs.

Personally I’m so glad for the internet as it’s led me to blogs like this. Plus reviews, bargains and inspiration for photo ideas. I’ve learned a lot about photography by copying tutorials etc… Which I see as basically free workshops!

But your blog speaks deeply to me…I love the idea of less is more, old school may be best, minimal gear and specs… So…are there other blogs like yours?.and are there other Pentax blogs that you know of?

Thanks Adam, yes there’s an abundance of free resources available online, to learn almost anything. There’s no excuse for any of us to not continue to explore and further our education in the subjects and hobbies we most enjoy.

Really pleased to hear how much you’re enjoying the blog. Of the blogs I follow personally, none are really much like mine! There are plenty of general minimalism blogs out there that are interesting, and a fair few film photography blogs. But I’ve been looking myself for some time for others who are following the kind of route I am, using 10+ year old compacts and blogging about it.

On the Pentax front, Pentax Forums is very good, and has threads for a number of now classic old Pentax DSLRs. When I had a K10D I read every post in the K10D Club thread (over 300!) and it not only taught me plenty about the camera, but showed what could be done with it. Very inspiring –

I also really enjoy and still follow and contribute to the Six MegaPixel Club, which is for 6MP DSLRs like the K100D, *ist series, and so on. Again, very informative and inspiring and a very friendly and encouraging bunch –